


The Second Soul

by Teekoness (Wreath_of_Laurels)



Category: Dragon Ball
Genre: Author Commentary, Gen, Old Fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-12-20
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:35:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24517012
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wreath_of_Laurels/pseuds/Teekoness
Summary: A body cursed with having two souls: Goku and Kakarot. Kakarot came first and hitting his head Goku is born. Now it is his turn once again and Goku's friends and family better watch out.... Danger has a familiar face.---A fic written twenty years ago - now with the author commentary where I think deeply about, praise and mock my younger self's work.
Comments: 5
Kudos: 7





	1. A Slip Up

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings from modern times,
> 
> The Second Soul (originally titled Kakarot's Revenge) is one of my oldest pieces of fan fiction and, to this day, my most popular. It was written approximately twenty years ago when I was still a teenager.
> 
> I wanted to preserve it on AO3 and having looked back at it, there's things I love about the fic and things that make want to want to shake my younger self until sense prevailed or I caused massive brain damage. One way or another, I thought it would be fun to repost it here with my observations, memories and regrets for all to see.
> 
> Whether you like the story for itself or just like reading my happiness and horror with my teenage self's writing abilities, I hope you enjoy.
> 
> Yours truly,  
> Laura

The stars twinkled in the cold darkness that was space. Each was glittering, bright, glowing. It wasn't something that one could replicate by shinnying a light through the holes in a black piece of paper. Every single one of these stars was its own light like a spirit with its own freedom.

Except one spirit, one star in its own right was trapped, and one day it would break free.

Sadly, captivity does strange things to stars… and spirits, changing them in ways we can only begin to imagine.

A ship glided aimlessly through space only holding six passengers. They were each enjoying their trip each in their own way, whether to train, socialise or explore. Not a single one could anticipate how a nice friendly out-trip could turn bad.

It was time.

* * *

4567 read the gravity machine. Four thousand five hundred and sixty-seven times Earth's normal gravity, enough to turn a feather that was dropped a millimetre from the floor would have enough force to smash through titanium with little effort.

The air particles were jammed so close to the ground by the intense pressure making it impossible for anyone to breath without assistance and so the one person in the room, Goku, wore a special breathing mask over his mouth and nose or he would have long since suffocated.

And somehow in this intense environment the saiyan trained.

Breathing hard as his arms shot forward in mock punches.

Groaning when his legs were wrenched from the ground to execute kicks.

Sweat pouring and pouring down at the speed of bullets with every movement of his body. Each muscle ached for this awful torture to end just for a second of rest.

Goku strided towards the gravity machine, his walk full of strength and grace. It was as if he merely shrugged off the immense force that pounded down on his body and every move. Lightly touching a few buttons and suddenly the gravity released, not completely but only to the point where it was only two thousand times normal, an incredible might still, yet a little better. His hands reached up to the mask and carefully unfastened it and gently placed it on a hook next to the controls.

The slightest gesture was a bit of poetry in the making. A true master piece from the greatest of the martial arts world. It seemed nothing could stop this amazing, yet humbling demonstration of power and self-control.

Then at the moment that seemed to be the climax of this gorgeous scene, a grumble rang through the air and the saiyan looked down at his stomach and smiled. "Snack time!" he chirped.

Of course one can speak too soon.

In a second Goku bounded over to the refrigerator that was in the corner, swung the door open and was digging through the fridge's contents. Yanking the fruit drawer open, he eagerly reached in. He had a hankering for one… two… or a dozen ripe firm bananas.

His hand wrapped around something and pulled it out. He found his banana all right but it wasn't exactly the way he had pictured it, especially in the firm part. It was a blackish mess that made a squishy noise with even the slightest movement of his hand and darker innards strongly resembled the sort of slime that a slug produces.

Curiously, he put it up to his mouths his tongue delicately touched it and he made a face.

"Ugh," said Goku making a face. Though saiyans were notorious for not being picky (even when they should be) but this was too much and he tossed what had once been a piece of fruit over his shoulder then went back to rummaging through the fridge.

To his horror every bit of edible food was had been flattened. Despite virtually everything in this room including Goku's clothes had been designed by the Briefs to withstand incredible gravity, they had neglected to remember that the food might not.

He sighed, once again looking over the carnage, and his shoulders sagged when another grumble from his hungry belly.

Then thinking for a second, he brightened. Wasn't there more food in the living quarters?

With that Goku dashed towards the door, his eyes, his step light. The only thing on his mind was chicken and ice cream and milk and chocolate and bread and virtually any sort of food except bananas (his appetite for those had mysteriously vanished).

Unfortunately he should have thought about that one piece of food in general and as he went along one of his feet landed on the mess of a banana on the floor and instead of prancing along, he pranced upside down and smashed his head against the floor.

With the force of the still incredible gravity pushing down on him and the hard floor, Goku's eyes closed and drifted into unconsciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had him slip on a banana peel.
> 
> I had him slip on a banana peel. 
> 
> I. Had. Him. Slip. On. A. Banana. Peel.
> 
> For a story that was intended as an action thriller, I am baffled and amused by Teenage!Me's choice to have him slip on a banana peel. I mean it did the job but seriously?
> 
> I will observe that my odd sense of humour has remained in tact. It shows especially with my choice to build up the suspense and awe of Goku the martial arts master only to puncture it with a joke ('Snacktime!'). I don't think this is the best place for it here, but hopefully it gave someone a laugh. I still do that sort of type of writing but now I am a little more fiddly where I put them.
> 
> The opening here is interesting. Teenage!Me is trying to be all metaphorical and fancy sounding. I think there's a mix of dubious metaphors like with the stars. Spots that are too on the nose like with 'They were each enjoying their trip each in their own way, whether to train, socialise or explore.' That being said I think it was a good try as you don't get better unless you're willing to screw up.
> 
> Also 'shinnying'. *snort* The autocorrects of the early 2000s weren't that good and I had no idea how to spell the word. Apparently, I couldn't be bothered to find a dictionary. You'll probably notice other questionable spellings, grammar and punctuation as the story progresses.


	2. A Big Bang

In the other training room, Vegeta and Gohan faced each other, both tingiling with energy that was begging to be used. Their gazes met, the prince's veruses the halfling's.

Suddenly, their eyes turned from dark-brown to stunning blue-green, the hair spiking above their heads like crowns. Powers skyrocketed and went to heights that seemed impossible but they were! Finally, a quiet tension filled the air as the powers steadied and the world seemed poised at that one for someone to make a move.

In second everything changed and in a flash of golden aura, they charged.

It was a fury of punches and kicks as the two saiyan warriors clashed. Vegeta aimed a punch a Gohan's face, who grabbed the fist and holding it in place landed a kick in his opponent's stomach. The Prince of Saiyans grunted for half a second and then jumping back into a fighting stance made a smirk and faded out.

The half-breed looked left and right looking around in vain to find the other man; he finally found his target but by the time he had it was too late. Vegeta appeared, dropping onto his hand and using one of his legs to sweep Gohan off his feet.

Before the young man could recover Vegeta had kneed him in the back and grabbed him slamming him back into the floor and the halfling cried out in pain.

The older saiyan started began to pick him up again.

"No… you don't!" muttered Gohan and in matter of milliseconds he twisted grabbing the prince's shoulders and threw him so he was flipped onto the floor beside the half-breed.

The two lay there for a moment breathing hard and then calmly got up faced each other once more. It seemed odd that in all that intense fighting that they could relax for that brief instant without worrying.

There was no hesitation this time when it came to starting up again and was again they launched themselves into the close calls, aches and pains that was the battle men of all kinds love so much.

After one particularly painful exchange, Vegeta decided it was time to end this spar and he gathered the ki for a Gallit Gun.

"Yahh!" yelled as he let loose a giant blast of purple energy.

Gohan was ready and he reached out with his hands and cried "Ma….. sen….. ko…. HA!" and his own blast of yellow ki met Vegeta's.

The two blasts pushed and wrenched at each other but neither moved an inch and the two saiyans groaned as they desperately exerted their energy trying to last until the other tired out. The atmosphere became hot and thick as more and more power filled the room and when it seemed that this could go on for quite a while.

Suddenly a huge tremor shook the ship knocking the two warriors to the ground and their now-unstable ki blasts away from their targets and ricketing off the walls. Instead of dodging each other they found themselves dodging their own blasts.

The room's door flung open.

"Hey guys," said Krillin as he entered the room. "Was that you two?"

Vegeta crossed his arms and looked away annoyed that the sparring match had been cut short and Gohan turned to look at the human.

"No, it wasn't us," said Gohan and taking a moment to think. What could cause something like that to happen? Unfortunately the answer came all two soon and was definetly not one he liked. "Goten… Trunks… If those two have wrecked something…" He let the threat hang, then relaxed and slowly his hair and eye colour dropped back into normal, and in a moment Vegeta followed suit.

The chance of them successfully wrecking something was actually incredibly slim. He remembered Bulma giving them a briefing on the ship. She had said the ship was state of the art, made with many of the strongest materials ever known, almost impossible to scratch let alone break.

Still, the three of them walked out of the room not quite as calmly as they would have liked and into the living quarters. Sure enough the terrible two had been up to no good.

The residential room had been designed with plenty of things to do, including movies, games, books, food (so far the most popular thing in the area) and toys. Thankfully the food was still packed in the ten refrigerators but other then that EVERYTHING had somehow been tossed on the floor.

One could think it miraculous that not a single thing that had been thrown around had fallen on a shelf every once in a while.

In the middle of this was Goten and Trunks lying on Gohan and Krillin's spare gi's while watching some a cartoon show about incredibly strong fighters on the television in the corner. Every once in a few giggles escaped the young boys.

"Hey Goten," Trunks said pointing to the screen when it showed two of the characters doing 'supposed' martial arts, "that guy has absolutely no form."

The other boy agreed and laughed "Yeah, ours would never be _that_ bad."

"From here it looks pretty bad."

For second Goten and Trunks looked at each other, expecting it to have been the other who had spoken, then their eyes drifted behind them to see a very peeved looking Gohan, Vegeta and Krillin.

"Uhhh, hi brother, Krillin, Mr. Vegeta," Goten babbled and the two of them rushed to their feet. "We can explain you see, we uh…. I think Trunks can tell you just what you want to know."

With that a rather reluctant Trunks was pushed in front of his best friend. "Hiya Tousan and of course Gohan and Trillin… I mean Pillin… sorry oops Krillin, you see we were…"

"Okay brats," growled Vegeta obviously having enough of the boys' excuses, "what was that big bang that shook the ship? Did you wreck the engine or something?"

The young half-breeds let loose a sigh of relief that could've been heard from there to New Namek.

"That wasn't us," Trunks said honestly.

"It wasn't?" Krillin asked suspicion thick in his tone. He could only hope Marron wasn't going to be like this when she got older.

"Really," said Goten. They had to believe them! "We're telling the truth, we felt the shake but it wasn't us we were just watching cartoons the whole time.

 _As well as making a mess of the living quarters,_ seemed to be the simultaneous thought of all the adults.

"Maybe it's Tousan," Gohan suggested. "He always goes overboard when training."

"Well, I am sure whatever it is it's okay," Krillin said. "Bulma built this ship strong enough to withstand all of us, right? If we can't damage it, well what can?"

Gohan walked over to a control panel to check the systems. "Yeah, the ship is fine. It's probably just Otousan like I thought."

"If everything's okay I think me and Trunks will go and do some training in the weight room," Goten said. Maybe he could get out of here before he got in trouble for something he _did_ do.

"By the way," Gohan said as he sat down on one of the less tattered chairs with a book in hand.

His younger brother froze halfway out the door.

"No more desert for the rest of the trip." Goten gulped, grabbed his friend by the arm and ran off.

Another bang came shaking through the ship and for a moment they were almost knocked off their feet.

"It must be Kakarot," Vegeta stated as he and the others regained their balance.

"Goku," Krillin corrected. What was the point of calling Goku a name from a life that didn't belong with him?

Under some circumstances, the Prince of Saiyans might have rebuked the human for talking to him in such a way but he declined this time. It never worked anyway since he moved to Earth besides his mind was other places.

But little did the other inhabitants of the ship know that Vegeta was right. It was Kakarot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Awwww... little me wrote an action scene. (I use the 'little' description rather loosely because I was a positively tiny teenager when I wrote this.) I think this was one of my first attempts at doing so. There's a lot of show where I think implying or using metaphors might work better. I think/hope that I've significantly improved since then with things like [_The Blood We Share_](https://archiveofourown.org/works/24035080/chapters/57830440), but I imagine there's always improvement to be had.
> 
> It's interesting looking at my punctuation especially. I am clearly trying to hold to punctuation rules that I learned for writing essays and the like (though it looks like my command of it was dubious at times). Unfortunately I hadn't yet learned that sometimes you can relax in creative writing where periods are concerned as iusing them for phrases or individual words can add emphasis or rhythm to certain parts of your writing. 
> 
> Funny thing to note is that I actually hadn't seen any of the episodes past Cell, so all the stuff I used that was took place after that was from me reading fic and episode summaries. For example: the entire time I wrote this, I had never actually seen any episodes with mini-Trunks or Goten. 
> 
> Other observations: I pretty much had to put Gohan in the story as he was and still is my favourite character. Krillin might be less expected for such a story, but I always have had admiration for the weaker characters of DB. Even when they're outmatched they still try to help. This includes Yamcha (yeah, I know, I know) who emotionally supports Mirai-Trunks and clearly is still good friends with Bulma after they had broken up.


	3. Danger Awakes

Goku lay in the room unconscious, completely oblivious to the events in the other rooms of the craft. It seemed almost as if he were at peace just calmly enjoying a nap but behind his eyelids his eyes rapidly moved as if being disturbed by some unseen tormentor.

Suddenly he clenched himself and curled up in a little ball on the floor, his breathing erratic and forced.

"No… NO!…" he murmured.

Something was wrong, something was terribly wrong and it seemed as if there was no way he could stop it but he had to. He couldn't let this force be freed. He could not allow it out.

Then the saiyan relaxed his arms, letting falling down at his sides and legs lying straight out on the floor. His eyes flickered open and for a moment there he just stared up at the ceiling his gaze blank. After assessing where he was a smile slowly formed on his face.

Using his hands, he pushed himself into a sitting position revelling in the feel as his muscles stretched and contracted at _his_ will, not at some softhearted fool's. To be able to do something that simple seemed like he had gone from being the darkest reaches of hell into the greatest part of heaven.

The saiyan felt his one of _his_ hands ache and he looked at it; maybe it had been hurt in the fall.

After looking at it for several seconds more, he smashed it into the hard floor feeling the pain he inflicted.

How glorious it was and rewarding to be able to do this by choice!

He wanted more of such experiences; he _needed_ to claim what was his by birthright. Every fibre in his body wanted to be taken to new heights and new joys, for now after so long he would feel true life again!

"Finally," he said in a whisper that seemed to echo, "I am free again."

It seemed so long ago that he had been sent to Earth by his father in the hopes to keep him safe from Freeza. The stupid git hadn't thought of saving his own skin and instead got all sentimental and gave up the chance of getting away before Vegeta-sei was blown up.

 _He truly cared about me,_ he thought, remembering talking with his father, _that silly fool cared about me. All the better for me._

Still, there had been a price to pay for salvation. When he first arrived he had met that earthling Gohan who had made everything difficult. The one who Goku had had the nerve to name _his_ son after. Not Goku's, _his._ It all belonged to him not that baka. Either way who would have thought there would have been a human who actually been a match for him?

The man had tried to take him in and would not let him go.

Then one day when Gohan had been trying to take him for a walk, he had almost escaped but then when that human had chased him he had tripped and plunged into a ravine hitting his head. That day Goku was born.

Goku had sickened him. By the time he had recovered enough to know what was going on, he found this loving, caring fool of a gaki controlling his body, completely oblivious to the saiyan screaming in the back of his mind.

He hoped the roles were reversed now. Oh, how sweet it would be if that baka was now watching and listening everything now, feeling his body move against his will…

"…. Hearing his mouth speak things he would never say."

That would be something to savour for the rest of his life. If he could only hear the other man now. Yelling, crying like he had for so long, but no one ever replying, no one ever comforting. He had been alone, always alone.

Shame, he couldn't hear that other man screaming. Perhaps it would make the other suffer even more.

Laughing hysterically, he lightly jumped to his feet and sighed as it happened exactly as he wanted it to. If only he could have done this more times before.

In less time than for a person's heart to beat he charged at the wall and kicked it twenty times then backflipping across the room, he twisted around delivering the wall another twenty with his fists. The entire craft shook as it took his onslaught.

A wide grin spread over his face and he looked down at himself happily. If that bumbling idiot had done something right it was how he trained the body they inhabited. The training that the baka had started with has been laughable but as time went on he had actually done _very_ well.

Suddenly his face became serious, now it was time for other matters.

He walked back over to the gravity machine and tapped the button that made the controls affect the ship. As soon as the screen changed he punched in the all too simple command 'Go to Earth." True, he could use the Instant Transmission to get to the planet but he had some business with his other shipmates.

Touching another button for it to move back to gravity machine controls again and put on the breathing mask hanging nearby then pressed the keys 4-5-6-7.

Once again the air was jammed down and the atmosphere became intense but the saiyan wasn't planing to stay and going to the door exited.

Out there the gravity relaxed and he was able to remove the mask, fastening it to his belt, and started down the hall, then paused when he saw another set of controls on the wall. What was it that Vegeta's mate had stressed about these things?

The answer came; he smirked and pressed his hand against the controls. Yes… the ship might be indestructible but the controls weren't. With a blast of ki, the area where the screen and keys had been became a patch of burning wires.

"Don't worry universe," the saiyan whispered more to himself than anyone, "Kakarot will take care of you."

And at that moment the air seemed to shiver.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Look it's that number, '4567' again. I am pretty sure that I picked that number by starting with 4 and then just pressed the numbers next to it. 
> 
> The use of Japanese, such as 'baka' and 'gaki', here makes me wince. I am not against the use of some Japanese in fiction, especially when the source material actually takse place in Japan, but here? No thank you, I barely knew what those words meant and probably used them to make myself seem more mature. *facepalm*
> 
> Kakarot here seems very much like a cliche villain with statements like '"Don't worry universe, Kakarot will take of you."', insulting people who care for him, and crazy smiles. All he needs to do is start monologing and he'll be a Bond villain. I will say that smiles are an aspect often (maybe too much) in my work. I find that they area a great way of getting a hint of what a person is like. 
> 
> The bit with the controls not being indestructable was a bit of an asspull. Of all the things *not* to be unbreakable, this once is the dumbest. If I had to do it again, I'd have it be the stuff under the control panel be unbreakable, that way Kakarot would first have to remove the panel's cover and then be able to destroy all the delicate stuff under it.


	4. Hi... Tousan?

The weight room was a fairly large part of the ship, spanning an entire level and was full of equipment that had been designed by those at Capsule Corp to be the latest in technology. Using these one could get one of the most effective and thorough workouts in this side of the galaxy, and this room like almost every other one had a gravity machine in the middle of the chamber.

Currently, this marvellous set was being terribly put to waste. Goten and Trunks had trained for exactly three minutes and then getting bored had taken six small dumbbells and that had been propped up on their sides were being used as target practice.

Trunks stood about six metres from them and he pointed a finger at a weight that released a white blast of ki that knocked over his target and another weight as the first one bashed into it.

With that the young saiyan looked over at his best friend and a grin splitting his face in half.

"That makes it ten to nine," he gloated, his eyes glinting devilishly. Goten frowned, drawing himself up he and putting his hand on his hips tried to like to look tall and forbidding like his okaasan did when she was angry.

"No," Goten said, "that makes it nine to nine."

Trunks took one look at the seen and burst out laughing.

"But I knocked down two weights so I get two points," Trunks protested between giggles.

The other half-breed tried to look tough. "Your suppose to only hit one, so if hit more than that you lose points. The score should be eight to nine."

"Hey! YOU DIDN'T SAY THAT BEFORE!" shouted a disgruntle Trunks.

Their eyes met with fierce looks of determination. As they stared at each other the room became as silent as a grave and soon their eyes watered longing to close. The moment dragged on and for the longest time and they were only dimly aware of anything else.

Finally Goten could bare it no longer, blinked and feeling annoyed turned away, crossing his arms.

"Did too," he muttered.

"Did not," growled Trunks.

"Did too!"

"DID NOT."

"DID TOO!"

"DID NOT!"

" **DID TOO!** "

For quite a while they continued like this neither giving in, until an idea occurred to Trunks. "Did too," he said.

" **DID NOT!** " yelled back Goten before he could think about it.

"Got you," Trunks taunted and smiling, skipped around his friend.

"That was CHEATING!" cried Goten.

"Was not."

"Was too."

"Was not."

Not really feeling ready for a round of 'was toos' and 'was nots' Goten launched himself at the older child and soon they were racing around the room. Weaving in and out of the exercise machines that cost a small fortune. Jumping, diving and turning from what seemed like every direction.

Trunks started circling a tall arm press in one corner of the room with the other boy hot on his heels. Seeing that this wouldn't go anywhere Goten turned around and planning to grab his friend when they met up again. Unfortunately he didn't turn fast enough and Trunks came around the machine, slammed into Goten and in one big mess they toppled into the floor sending the arm press falling towards the ground.

"Uh oh," said Trunks and Goten at the same time, watching it fall.

Just as it almost reached the floor the boys managed to untangle themselves, get up and grab the thing. When they saw it was secure they hoisted back into a standing position and wiped sweat from their brows.

They looked at each other and smiles broke out on their faces.

"Was too," whispered Goten.

"Was not," replied Trunks.

And with that they fell over laughing. They lay for a few minutes, letting the laughter roll over them until their bellies hurt and they were just too tired to even giggle they stopped.

A firm knock came from the door and Goten got up and answered it.

There was Goku standing in his typical orange with his black hair as spiky as ever. Oddly enough, he wore the smirk he usually reserved for fights and other circumstances such as that. It seemed out of place like it shouldn't really be there, but what did that matter?

"Hi Tousan," Goten chirped seeing the familiar face of his father.

Goku put his hand in the doorway, stepping in, and cocked his head to the left, a strange gesture that Goten had never seen before but none the less he stayed cheerful. If his otousan was acting a little weird, who was he to judge?

"Me and Trunks were playing some games and such."

His tousan entered the room slipping past his son examined the surroundings.

"Yes, Trunks… _Prince_ Trunks," said Goku his gaze settling on the chamber's other occupant. Trunks couldn't help but shift uncomfortably under that look.

"Uh, Tousan, is there anything you want?" Goten asked desperately wanting to make some type of conversation. To say the least this was getting awkward.

"Oh, you'll see." Goku keeping his eyes on Vegeta's son, he took the door and slammed it shut.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The 'training' scene is largely taken from my own experiences with my three younger brothers who didn't have the greatest attention spans. Constant changing of rules were a regular part of any sort of game involving them, especially if they thought they were losing. 
> 
> Looking back, I am not sure why they're using standard dumbells initially. Maybe in a gravity room but there?
> 
> The 'did too'-'did not' seems to largely been used to fill up the chapter so I could feel justified to post it without being too small. At that age, I was considerably more review hungry than I am now, so the faster I could pump out chapters, the quicker I could get my next 'hit'. 
> 
> There seems to be a lot of telling than showing when it comes to Trunks and Goten sensing that there's something wrong with 'Goku' here. I like to think that I have moved past that bad habit mostly. (Hint: I likely haven't.)
> 
> Interesting thing that I've observed, at this point I am just over 4000 words. With my writing now, that *might* make a chapter.


	5. Ch. 4: Evil Ally

Trunks was being spooked. He was being spooked bad. For a few minutes he just was frozen there, aware that he was still sitting on the floor his muscles clenched and he felt himself trembling, though not visibly at least, he knew that his wasn't moving at all, but more inside like an icy breeze had brushed his heart. A gut feeling that something wasn't right.

In a flash Goku phased out leaving a ghost of an image, then reappearing in front of Trunks who looked up at the saiyan and bit his lip. The saiyan towered above the youth like a mountain; tall, cold, with a face made of stone.

Trunks felt himself shaking, visibly this time and teeth chattered a chrisp sound. His palms started sweating and he unconsciously was clenching the dark blue gi that his mother had made especially for him.

Immediately Trunks felt guilt well up in him. Otousan trusted Goku deeply and was the closest thing the prince had to a best friend even a brother, of course if one were to outright ask Vegeta about it he would strongly deny every bit. To Trunks, Goku was like an uncle and to treat him like a danger was outrageous.

"Tousan?" asked Goten, once again trying to get his Goku's attention. Finally the saiyan wrenched his eyes away from Trunks and turned towards his youngest giving him a friendly smile.

He wasn't acting quite as odd now, and the two half-breeds simultaneously sighed, letting out the nervousness out through his body and out into the air. Still, the previous experiences had let uneasiness spread that was hard to ignore despite all their best efforts.

The boy grabbed the older saiyan's hand was lifted into a standing position.

"Thank you," Trunks managed and looked up into his helper's face whose eyes seemed glued to him. Strangely the man didn't let go of his hand and the look in his eyes seemed to slowly creep in through the lids, but what could he say?

The aura of light heartiness, and laughter had faded from the training room replaced by quiet as if you had been playing hard rock on tape player's maximum volume for twenty-four hours and then suddenly pulled the plug. An eerie sensation that wouldn't just disappear into nothingness that seemed to consume all else.

"So what do you want?" asked Goten but Goku didn't acknowledge him in the least and at the second the grip on Trunk's hand tightened making the boy's hand start to ache as the pressure gradually increased as the seconds passed. Eventually the young Briefs found himself searching for some way to get out of there, to at least free himself from this man's grip, but finally the ache became red hot pain.

He whimpered.

"Tousan!?" Goten shouted, but Goku seemed to be in a world of his own. "Your hurting him, Tousan! Your hurting Trunks!"

Still getting no answer he gathering his energy to turn Super Saiyan, but Goku was ready and in a split second he rushed at his son giving him a sharp blow to the neck. Goten clasped in a heap, twitching.

Trunks stood there paralysed, his breathing halted while he looked on with horror.

This could not be happening.

Could not.

Impossible.

Something like this didn't happen.

Nice people don't suddenly turn mean. Nice people were… nice.

Imposter? Yeah, that had to be. Goku would never do this, so this was a faker, someone whom looked like him, wore the same clothes, had the same voice. It was a good guess as any but none the less, so many similarities.

The shock filled his bones and through his slugish brain part of him was dimly processing what going on. There was Goku standing over fallen mass of his child, face calm now, grim even with a determination that sent chills down Trunks' spine. The saiyan's hand raised over the boy was alive with electricity, and every so slowly Goku reached down, preparing to touch the boy.

"Wereti das Freoil Geadu req juy Zereuf otjin met Oozaru Saiyan," came from his lips. It was a harsh sounding yet with a traditional ring to it, like how one might make a prayer but that wouldn't change the desperateness of the situation.

When Goku's hand came centimetres from Goten's chest, Trunks finally snapped out of it and moved, not at the saiyan but instead he pivoted on the balls of his feet turning towards the arm press behind him, knocking it over and with a crash it gave him the distraction he needed.

While Goku looked to see what the cause of the noise was, Trunks scooped up Goten and through the corner of his eye he spotted his friend's father starting to realise what had happened, but by then he had already opened the door and was already on his way out.

Zooming down the hall trying to find some help whether Otousan, Gohan, or Krillin as well as cursing Kaasan for making the ship so big, he heard Goten groan and slowly regain consciousness eventually forcing his eyes to focus on his saviour.

"What…. what happened?" he said weakly.

Trunks wearily though with a bitterness. Your otousan tried to kill you. What kind of answer was that?

"I don't know, Goten… I just don't know."

* * *

In the weight room, Kakarot looked at the door with little worry.

Perhaps he didn't succeed in grabbing little _Prince_ Trunks and dealing with his own son, but this place was only so big and he would find. Besides he could have a little fun with a game of cat and mouse and when his business was done he would have other things to entertain him.

Still, he had things to do here and strolled over to the gravity machine in the middle of the room. Like the one in the other training room, it duelled as a set of ship controls.

For variety's sake he didn't blast this one, instead he merely gave it one swift punch, revelling as his hand broke plastic and metal with ease like a knife cut butter, most likely even easier.

Really, that Bulma was a true idiot. What sort of woman creates an almost completely indestructible space ship but makes the controls breakable? Oh well, it was her loss, as well as her family and friends', and _his_ gain.

He smirked and left the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'Trunks was being spooked. Was being spooked bad.'
> 
> Uh, I don't object you modifying my language based on pov. Honestly, it's something I do religiously, but this is a rather awkward was to start chapter, even when the pov is a child. 
> 
> One thing I observe in this chapter is Teen!Me is putting a lot of effort into showing and not telling. Though it needs some work. For example:  
> 'The aura of light heartiness, and laughter had faded from the training room replaced by quiet as if you had been playing hard rock on tape player's maximum volume for twenty-four hours and then suddenly pulled the plug. An eerie sensation that wouldn't just disappear into nothingness that seemed to consume all else.'  
> Good try at using similes but overly long and not fitting the mood. I'm sort of proud of my teen self. Yeah, she didn't it right, but you learn from screwing up and I like to think I'm considerably better now. (If you want to see, check out my stuff as Wreath_of_Laurels.) That being said, I still screw up plenty. 
> 
> The electricity thing Kakarot tried to do to Goten is based on what Raditz tried to do to little Gohan. I was trying to show that Kakarot had some of his old saiyan fighting techniques.
> 
> I then go on to have him speak Saiyan (Saiyanese? Saiyish?). Interesting factoid is that 'Oozaru Saiyan' means in my made up language 'true Saiyan'. It was created at a time where fandom had the Saiyan characters a thousand times more obsessed with their tails and ape-form than they were in canon. So, I decided in Saiyan culture they believed a Saiyan's true form was the great ape and to be robbed of that was to not be a proper Saiyan. 
> 
> Funny how everyone in Dragon Ball feels the need to underestimate or play with each other rather than kill each other outright. Kind of seems like they're trying to stretch out a sparse plot or something....
> 
> 'Really, that Bulma was a true idiot. What sort of woman creates an almost completely indestructible space ship but makes the controls breakable? Oh well, it was her loss, as well as her family and friends', and his gain.'
> 
> Yep, that is an idiotic thing to do. Bad Bulma. Bad. Bad. The dumb design is absolutely HER fault and NO ONE ELSE'S.
> 
> Definitely. Most assuredly. 
> 
> Right.


	6. Details, details

In his mind's eye the reader saw a beautiful day. The sun painting the landscape golden with its thick brush making the river's blue-green depths so see-through that one could see the silvery fish below, dancing joyfully through the water. From the green trees on the banks came the musical song of a single bird, a sort of laughter echoing through the air.

On the river itself was a log raft lazily drifting along with its two occupants lying on their backs, taking naps in the mid-day heat. A boy called Tom whom even in his sleep seemed to radiate an aura of mischief, and his companion a black ex-slave named Jim whose hopes of true freedom were coming closer by the day.

In distance the reader was aware of three kis, two of them about the same strength while the third was much stronger. The third power flared and one of other two became dangerously low, while its companion's ki trembled not doing anything and the strongest power approached the weakened one.

"Goten?"

Son Gohan let out a shout and sat up. He had been sprawled over the a comfy chair in the recreation room and lying on his chest was _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,_ a book that he had been enjoying until he had dozed off.

He looked around the chamber. His part of the area was lit by a tall lamp giving just enough light to make out the shapes of Krillin and Vegeta standing next to the door. Looking at their faces, in an instant Gohan knew something was wrong. Vegeta eyes were with his hand on the door, his face full of concentration, while Krillin was biting his lip until it seemed it should be drawing blood at any moment.

With some regret, Gohan put his book onto a small table beside his chair and stretched out with his mind to see if he could sense the kis he had been feeling in his dream. There were two of them. One was in the weight room, another was coming this way, but where was the third one?

Suddenly he felt a incredibly low power level. The owner of the second ki seemed to be carrying the other one and considering that the weakest ki was fluctuating is showed that it was probably hurt.

"Do you what's going on here?" Gohan asked and standing up, he walked over to where the others were.

At first there was no answer and the silence seemed to very prominent in the room and the demi-saiyan's voice echoed for what seemed like quite a while.

"Well?" Gohan said. Finally Vegeta acknowledged him by meeting his gaze.

"You felt that, right?" the saiyan prince said.

"Yes." That probably was the closest the saiyan prince could get to saying I don't know.

"Maybe Trunks and Goten are getting into trouble again," suggested Krillin.

Yeah, that did seem like a likely explanation: that the terrible two were just goofing off. Still…

"What about that third power?" Gohan said. "It became huge and then one of the other two dropped like crazy."

"Could that be Goku?" asked Krillin.

"No," declared Vegeta and knitting his dark eyebrows together, he shook his head, "That didn't feel like Kakarot. The power level was about same, but it had a different sense to it."

Gohan had to admit that he was right. That ki had seemed different from his otousan. More dark and murky, rather than bright and clear power that his father always emitted. It bothered him, like he had felt it before. He shook his head, trying to clear his mind and focus on the situation. It was annoying him. He knew it was there somewhere, but where? It seemed like it was itching at someplace in his mind.

Suddenly, the door burst open and in ran a Trunks with a limp Goten in his arms. The young Briefs looked from Krillin to Vegeta to Gohan to Krillin to Gohan to his father again his eyes wide and mouth hanging open not sure what words he could form. Finally he just fell onto to his knees, still holding Goten tightly.

"He's unconscious again," Trunks managed. "It seemed for a while like he was getting better…."

"Goten!" Gohan cried and ran to his little brother. He tried to take him, but young Trunks was to in shock to let go of the other boy.

Krillin walked over to the youth and put his hands on the demi-saiyan's shoulders. "Come on, let him go Trunks. Don't worry he's safe. You're both safe now."

Trunks let his grip loosen so Gohan carefully picked up Goten and took him across the room put him in the arm chair where he had been sitting earlier.

Coming back to the others, Gohan gently questioned Trunks. "What happened? Did he somehow hurt himself when you were playing?" Gohan doubted that had happened. It took a lot to hurt anyone of them especially that badly.

"No," Trunks said weakly, "he was hit hard by…."

"By who? Is there an intruder?"

To this there was a long silence and Trunks was biting his lip so hard that he it was a miracle that it wasn't bleeding.

"Speak up, brat," demanded Vegeta walking over to his son.

"Maybe one of us should get Goku," said Krillin.

"NO!" yelled Trunks, so forcefully that even Vegeta stepped back. He had jumped up now and was shaking all over. "Don't! You can't get him! You don't understand what's going on. If you get him… He'll… HE'LL…"

"He'll what, Trunks? This intruder will do what?" Gohan asked.

"You don't understand there isn't a…"

"Krillin! Gohan!" said Vegeta. "I am not sensing Kakarot's ki." Vegeta was right and the other ki, the murky one was gone as well.

This drew looks from everyone and poor Trunks just looked down at the floor letting his despair rolling over him. "He's suppressing it. Oh Kami, he's suppressing it. If we can't sense him, he could be anywhere on the ship."

Gohan looked at the other half-breed. The boy was breathing heavily and now his lip had a small red line of blood dripping down his chin. "Tell me what's going on," he said. They were doing the best with the information they had, but only Trunks really knew and they needed to understand the situation.

Trunks stopped biting his lip and hesitating for a moment opened his mouth. "Well me and Goten were playing in the weight room when your Tousan came in, Gohan. He acted a little odd at first, but we just thought he was fooling around, but then…"

As the tale unfolded, Trunks grew calmer, while the others got more nervous by the second.

"Then before he was about to touch Goten with that electricity all over his hand, he said something. I don't what it meant but it sounded strange. It was probably another language or something because I only understood two words."

"What were they?" Gohan asked, inwardly trying to make sense of this entire thing. Either Trunks was lying and he had by accident hurt Goten, or his otousan had completely lost it. Could someone like Babadi been on the ship and cast some sort of a spell on his father to make him act this way? Probably Trunks was lying, yet he wasn't acting like that.

"He said 'oozaru saiyan'. Oozaru means that ape form we get in the full moon and we're saiyans, right?"

Vegeta walked up to his son and looked into the child's blue eyes as if trying to find some indication that this was all just a fib. "Trunks," he said, "Repeat everything that Kakarot said."

Trunks brow furrowed deeply and concentrated hard as he could. "He said something like 'Werit da Frel Gadu met Oozaru Saiyan' I think I messed it up a lot."

But Vegeta wasn't listening to this. "Wereti das Freoil Geadu req juy Zereuf otjin met Oozaru Saiyan," he muttered. "How could Kakarot know about that? He said he lost his memory of being a saiyan. How could he remember that?"

"What does it mean?" questioned Gohan. The expression on Vegeta's face was bothering him immensely. The saiyan prince's expression was very thoughtful, but if Gohan wasn't mistaken, there was some nervousness there, even fear.

"It is ancient kearn, the native language of those on Vegeta-sei. Zeruf is the saiyan afterlife and to say Oozaru Saiyan is to mean true saiyan or a true warrior. Kakarot was saying that he was going to send to his other son to death as a true saiyan through the traditional way."

"But Goku lost his memory," piped in Krillin. "How can he know about this let alone speak in another language?"

"I don't know," simply said Vegeta, who had a vein throbbing on his forehead.

Gohan notice that Vegeta was making some uneasy glances his way and felt that something was being held back. For a moment he considered if he should say anything or press for more information but decided against it. He got the impression that Vegeta would rather be left alone on the subject and if needed he could ask later.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The real name of this chapter is "Someone, let Trunks talk" because the poor kid spends half of it getting interrupted. 
> 
> The opening thing is quite experimental and DOES NOT work. I applaud myself for trying (bad writing can eventually lead to good) but it's totally irrelevant to the plot and doesn't add to the story in any way. Also, I had never read the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, so I'm pretty sure I'm trying to come off as cool and sophisticated. 
> 
> Pretty much, I was a teenager.
> 
> On the subject of Kakarot, how the hell does he know the Saiyan language? He was a baby when he landed on Earth. I think this eventually occurs to me master in the story where I come up with an asspull of an explanation.


End file.
